Food safety for consumers

In this section:

Overview

The food and safety team at Solihull Council inspects food premises to ensure they comply with food safety and standards legislation.

The Food Hygiene Ratings Scheme

Run in partnership with the Food Standards Agency (FSA), the Food Hygiene Ratings Scheme rates the hygiene standards of places where you eat or shop on the date of inspection by the local authority.

  • 5 - hygiene standards are very good
  • 4 - hygiene standards are good
  • 3 - hygiene standards are generally satisfactory
  • 2 - some improvement is necessary
  • 1 - major improvement is necessary
  • 0 - urgent improvement is required

Before eating out or ordering in, check the food hygiene rating score.

Search for a Solihull food outlet

Make a complaint

You can complain about unhygienic conditions in a food outlet or food you suspect has made you unwell because it:

  • was sold past its use by date*
  • is mouldy
  • is not safe to eat (such as food containing pieces of metal, glass, plastic, allergens etc)
  • is incorrectly described or wrongly labelled (e.g. a vegetarian meal that contains meat, allergens etc)

*It is an offence for a business to sell food past the use by date or to alter the date without the manufacturer’s permission. It is not an offence to sell products past the best before date as this related to quality not safety.

Suspected food poisoning

If you are complaining about suspected food poisoning you should visit your GP at your earliest opportunity. Providing a faecal (poo) sample may help with our investigation.

Illness is not always due to the last thing you have eaten - it may be something you have eaten several days before. If no food poisoning bacteria is found in your faecal sample your symptoms could be due to another illness such as a virus. 

Submit a food safety complaint

What we will do

Depending on the food safety risk and compliance history of the premises the information you provide may be kept for information and discussed at the next programmed inspection. In some cases, we may contact you to discuss your complaint before deciding if more immediate action is required. Investigations can be complex and this may take longer than you would expect.

We do not have any influence over companies in relation to goodwill gestures and we do not seek compensation on your behalf. If you feel you may be entitled to compensation you should go directly to the business or alternatively seek independent legal advice.

Get in touch

You can contact Solihull Council’s Food Safety Team by:

If you are holding an event in Solihull additional information can be found here.